The film was very good, with a few caveats, and the 80 DVD copies available on-hand sold out easily. The filmmakers said that more copies would be made, and that people who wrote their emails down would be informed, but no word yet.
The facade doesn’t look like the Iroquois in any way, shape, or form. View link
Any architect building a theater on the site of the deadliest theater fire (which occured just after it had opened) would have to be an idiot to remind people of the horrible tragedy, lest the audience fear becoming victims themselves.
It opened in 1911. View link . It was renamed the New Park from about 1917-1926. It actually DOES still stand. Although the address maps to the NW Corner of Calumet and 51st, it is still there, actually at the NE Corner. It looks like the surrounding building has been reconstructed, but the theater stands. It was originally a Jones, Linick, Shaefer theater, and later Essaness.
Here are four photosets from late 2004. These are what Bryan Krefft referenced in the third post on this page. These most fully document the current state of the Nortown. Proceed with caution.
If you read the article I posted on May 28, you would see this:
“(Richard) Stern, who has operated the two-screen cinema for the last 40 years, has sold the building to Carole Dibo and Sam Samuelson, founders of He Mette She Productions. They plan on making minor renovations to the theater and will continue to show movies and also stage live events. The theater should open in its new incarnation by Memorial Day, Dibo said.
(…)
Plans are to keep one theater for movies, which will be managed by Nova Cinemas. Dibo and Samuelson will focus on programming the second theater, which will run the gamut from children’s shows and lectures to theater productions and anything else the team can come up with."
B&K leased the theater from Aschers for $260,000 a year and 50/50 profit sharing; that high of a lease was unheard of in the theatrical community. Also, since B&K owned the nearby Chicago, it let them fix the prices since they no longer had to compete with the Roosevelt for bookings or films. The Aschers were biggest in the city at the time, having a total of 22 theaters. B&K only had 4 at the time, but was quickly gaining prominence through the quality and size of their theatres and presentation.
That is strange. I think the Studebaker/Playhouse theaters next to the auditorium would predate it as well. Maybe they just didn’t do their homework. The ticket scanners are really to avoid counterfeit tickets. That way, once a given barcode is scanned, they can be sure no one else comes in with a copy. It also lets people use print-at-home tickets, which are increasingly popular.
It was originally built for the Ascher Brothers movie circuit, with some vaudeville too, but was very quickly turned over to Balaban & Katz. It was a record-setting real estate deal, if I remember right.
In the ‘old days’ theatres were operated with two projectors per screen, and the projectionist had to wind up the reels, switch from one projector to another at a precise time, etc. Here, as in modern theatres, the films are wound on a pair of platters, allowing it to run continuously through a single projector. All that needs to be done is press a button and the lights dim, sound comes on, curtains open (if there were any), etc, and the same after the show. Also, since the theatres sat a total of 662 seats, and less than 300 in any screen, UA thought they could get away with only one projectionist under union rules, I think. Where UA saw one facility with only 662 seats, requiring only one projectionist, the union saw 3 theaters, requiring one projectionist per screen. This presumably led to the conflict causing the Marina’s downfall. If you were UA, would you want to be paying a full union wage to run a 168-seat house? If you were Local 150, would you want to let this set a precedent for multi-screen theaters?
Actually, this archtect question is getting confusing. Here are the permits issued:
01-06-1909 – 3204 W Madison – Rapp & Rapp – W.B. Malcomb
08-21-1909 – 3202 W Madison – Rapp & Rapp – Kedzie Amusement Co.
07-23-1910 – 3202-3206 W Madison – Sidney Lovell – Kedzie Amusement
12-10-1910 – 3202-3208 W Madison – Sidney Lovell – Kedzie Amusement
03-12-1912 – 3212-3218 W Madison – Sidney Lovell – Kedzie Amusement
So, make of that what you will. I don’t know quite how to interpret it.
The De Luxe was designed by the firm of Huehl & Schmidt, who were also responsible for Chicago’s Medinah Temple (now Bloomingdale’s Home Store). Former THSA president Joe DuciBella has remarked, “The De Luxe… was not”. I’d imagine it only became a misnomer when faced with such great competition, though.
Well, Shubert had become something of a misnomer, because the Shubert organization had sold the theater to the Nederlanders (basically their broadway arch-rivals) in the early 90s; however, they never changed the name. The Majestic name hadn’t been used for the theatre since the early 1930s – although the office building had retained it – so there was little pressure to use that, especially considering that the new hotel in the former office building is going to be, I think, Hampton Suites at the Majestic Building. Considering Lasalle Bank was forking over so much to renovate it, it must have seemed fitting to rename it that way. I really don’t like the new marquee, though. It looks goofy and doesn’t really resemble any of the historic marquees except the Shubert one, only with the added odd curvy thing on top. One nice touch, though, is that the bottom of the canopy is modeled after the original metal that had been left in place all those years, exposed during the renovation. [url=http://iconeon.blogspot.com/2006/05/majestic-shubert-lasalle-banktheater.html]Here]Here} is the article i’ve mostly paraphrased that covers it well.
Here is a profile from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency’s HAARGIS system. It includes small pictures. Here is another.
Here is a profile from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency’s HAARGIS system. It includes a small picture as the Belmont Bowl.
Here is a profile from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency’s HAARGIS system. It includes a small picture.
Here is a profile from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency’s HAARGIS system. It includes a small picture.
Here is a profile from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency’s HAARGIS system. It includes a small picture.
Here is a profile from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency’s HAARGIS system. It includes a small picture.
Here is a profile from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency’s HAARGIS system. It includes a small picture.
Here is a profile from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency’s HAARGIS system. It includes a small picture, as Carr’s.
Here is a profile from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency’s HAARGIS system.
Here is a profile from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency’s HAARGIS system. It includes a small photo.
The film was very good, with a few caveats, and the 80 DVD copies available on-hand sold out easily. The filmmakers said that more copies would be made, and that people who wrote their emails down would be informed, but no word yet.
The facade doesn’t look like the Iroquois in any way, shape, or form. View link
Any architect building a theater on the site of the deadliest theater fire (which occured just after it had opened) would have to be an idiot to remind people of the horrible tragedy, lest the audience fear becoming victims themselves.
It opened in 1911. View link . It was renamed the New Park from about 1917-1926. It actually DOES still stand. Although the address maps to the NW Corner of Calumet and 51st, it is still there, actually at the NE Corner. It looks like the surrounding building has been reconstructed, but the theater stands. It was originally a Jones, Linick, Shaefer theater, and later Essaness.
View link
I think it must have been the church that ruined it. An earlier commenter said thewy sold off a lot of decor too, right
Here are four photosets from late 2004. These are what Bryan Krefft referenced in the third post on this page. These most fully document the current state of the Nortown. Proceed with caution.
http://supercharger96.livejournal.com/5069.html
http://supercharger96.livejournal.com/5284.html
http://supercharger96.livejournal.com/5496.html
http://supercharger96.livejournal.com/5799.html
If you read the article I posted on May 28, you would see this:
“(Richard) Stern, who has operated the two-screen cinema for the last 40 years, has sold the building to Carole Dibo and Sam Samuelson, founders of He Mette She Productions. They plan on making minor renovations to the theater and will continue to show movies and also stage live events. The theater should open in its new incarnation by Memorial Day, Dibo said.
(…)
Plans are to keep one theater for movies, which will be managed by Nova Cinemas. Dibo and Samuelson will focus on programming the second theater, which will run the gamut from children’s shows and lectures to theater productions and anything else the team can come up with."
B&K leased the theater from Aschers for $260,000 a year and 50/50 profit sharing; that high of a lease was unheard of in the theatrical community. Also, since B&K owned the nearby Chicago, it let them fix the prices since they no longer had to compete with the Roosevelt for bookings or films. The Aschers were biggest in the city at the time, having a total of 22 theaters. B&K only had 4 at the time, but was quickly gaining prominence through the quality and size of their theatres and presentation.
That is strange. I think the Studebaker/Playhouse theaters next to the auditorium would predate it as well. Maybe they just didn’t do their homework. The ticket scanners are really to avoid counterfeit tickets. That way, once a given barcode is scanned, they can be sure no one else comes in with a copy. It also lets people use print-at-home tickets, which are increasingly popular.
It was originally built for the Ascher Brothers movie circuit, with some vaudeville too, but was very quickly turned over to Balaban & Katz. It was a record-setting real estate deal, if I remember right.
In the ‘old days’ theatres were operated with two projectors per screen, and the projectionist had to wind up the reels, switch from one projector to another at a precise time, etc. Here, as in modern theatres, the films are wound on a pair of platters, allowing it to run continuously through a single projector. All that needs to be done is press a button and the lights dim, sound comes on, curtains open (if there were any), etc, and the same after the show. Also, since the theatres sat a total of 662 seats, and less than 300 in any screen, UA thought they could get away with only one projectionist under union rules, I think. Where UA saw one facility with only 662 seats, requiring only one projectionist, the union saw 3 theaters, requiring one projectionist per screen. This presumably led to the conflict causing the Marina’s downfall. If you were UA, would you want to be paying a full union wage to run a 168-seat house? If you were Local 150, would you want to let this set a precedent for multi-screen theaters?
Actually, this archtect question is getting confusing. Here are the permits issued:
01-06-1909 – 3204 W Madison – Rapp & Rapp – W.B. Malcomb
08-21-1909 – 3202 W Madison – Rapp & Rapp – Kedzie Amusement Co.
07-23-1910 – 3202-3206 W Madison – Sidney Lovell – Kedzie Amusement
12-10-1910 – 3202-3208 W Madison – Sidney Lovell – Kedzie Amusement
03-12-1912 – 3212-3218 W Madison – Sidney Lovell – Kedzie Amusement
So, make of that what you will. I don’t know quite how to interpret it.
Architects were Grossman & Proskauer
The De Luxe was designed by the firm of Huehl & Schmidt, who were also responsible for Chicago’s Medinah Temple (now Bloomingdale’s Home Store). Former THSA president Joe DuciBella has remarked, “The De Luxe… was not”. I’d imagine it only became a misnomer when faced with such great competition, though.
Well, Shubert had become something of a misnomer, because the Shubert organization had sold the theater to the Nederlanders (basically their broadway arch-rivals) in the early 90s; however, they never changed the name. The Majestic name hadn’t been used for the theatre since the early 1930s – although the office building had retained it – so there was little pressure to use that, especially considering that the new hotel in the former office building is going to be, I think, Hampton Suites at the Majestic Building. Considering Lasalle Bank was forking over so much to renovate it, it must have seemed fitting to rename it that way. I really don’t like the new marquee, though. It looks goofy and doesn’t really resemble any of the historic marquees except the Shubert one, only with the added odd curvy thing on top. One nice touch, though, is that the bottom of the canopy is modeled after the original metal that had been left in place all those years, exposed during the renovation. [url=http://iconeon.blogspot.com/2006/05/majestic-shubert-lasalle-banktheater.html]Here]Here} is the article i’ve mostly paraphrased that covers it well.